With a brief good weather window, I decided to take advantage of the “free self issue permit” that goes away after March 31. Looked like I wasn’t the only one with that idea. I think there were close to 100 hikers out there today. The Sno-Park parking was 50%+ full at 7 AM.
The conditions summary: snow starts at the parking lot. Snow crust was quite solid for my whole ascent (got there at noon). Pretty solid steps if you aren’t skinning up. I heard a few skiers saying they were switching back to crampons on the way up.
There was a little sketchy traverse from the crater rim to the true summit because the crust was so hard that it made it difficult to dig in, but if you have crampons/axe it was fine.
On the descent, a little softer on the top half and past Monitor ridge was very soft on the verge of post holing on the way down. Some were glissading but I opted to keep my crampons on for awhile. I was back at my car by 3 PM. Pretty blue skies so I feel fortunate for this being a March hike. Make sure you remember your sunscreen (I didn’t and I’m feeling the heat!).
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